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Azusa Street Participant George Studd: Seven Characteristics of Early Pentecostals — Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center
This Week in AG History — August 11, 1945 By Ruthie Edgerly ObergOriginally published on AG News, 13 August 2020 When the Pentecostal movement began to take root at the Azusa Street Mission in 1906 under the leadership of William J. Seymour, there were other missions springing up in Los Angeles that joined with what […]
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Who will salute Trump’s man in Berlin? — UnHerd
Two centuries ago, the British statesman John Bright warned against “following visionary phantoms in all parts of the world while your own country is becoming rotten within”. It is symptomatic of how diseased American strategic thinking has become over the past 30 years that so few Americans in a position to influence the direction of…
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The Joys of Bitter Lemon — Chet Aero Marine
I grew up in a family of serious drinkers, which goes back a long way, as my grandfather’s involvement in this should attest. That meant that we had a stocked bar in the house (it wasn’t a “wet bar” in the sense that it had a sink, but it was stocked all the same.) At […]
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Epoch/NALR Family Album Vol. 1
Epoch Universal Publications/NALR 33420/FAI-78 (1978)
“Best Of”/Compilations weren’t unknown in the “Jesus Music” era but they weren’t common either. This is an interesting one, selected from the extensive offerings the ministry had in the 1970’s. It includes many of their best known artists (and some lesser known ones) as follows:
- Paul Quinlan, a pioneer in the field (featured elsewhere) now with his wife Nancy;
- Grayson Warren Brown, one of the few (only?) black artists NALR had;
- Saint Louis Jesuits, the famous, including Bob Dufford, John Foley, Tim Manion, Roc O’Connor and Dan Schutte;
- Carey Landry, the “Catholic troubadour of the bayou,” who even serves up some “bon ton” in French on this album;
- Deanna Edwards, the music therapist, one of whose cuts sounds like something from the soundtrack of an old movie; and
- Wendy Vickers (also featured elsewhere.)
I’m not sure whether this album was ever commercially distributed; based on what’s on the album cover, it may have been intended as a promotional effort for parishes to adopt their music (which many did.) It’s not quite like “The Cry of the Poor” but it’s a nice selection from probably the strongest distributor of Catholic music in the NOM/Vatican II era.
The songs (with their composers):
- Though the Mountains May Fall (D. Schutte)
- The Lord is My Shepherd (P. Quinlan)
- Son-Rise (D. Edwards)
- How Good is the Lord (C. Landry)
- Sow a Seed (W. Vickers)
- Rise Up (P. Quinlan)
- Jesus Died Upon the Cross (G. Brown)
- The People That Walk in Darkness (B. Dufford)
- Live Each Day (D. Edwards)
- Blest Be the Lord (D. Schutte)
- In Him We Live (C. Landry)
For More Music Click Here
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Pope Paul VI: An Historic Journey to the Holy Land, January 1964
Twentieth Century-Fox TFM 3129 (1964)
It’s something of a departure from our usual offerings, but this is a vinyl phonograph documentary of Pope Paul VI’s visit to the Holy Land at the time of the Epiphany in January 1964. First, however, some explanation of the medium is in order.
Until the advent of video disks and ultimately the VCR, there was no convenient way outside of a television studio for people to do “video on demand,” and thus phono documentaries like this one were very common in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was the best way that people could relive events like this one.
Paul’s visit to the Holy Land was described as historic, and in the context of the time it certainly was. To begin with, none of the occupants of the See of Peter had come back to the homeland of the first one until that time. (Kind of reminds you of Brother Andrew’s remark that Jesus told his followers to go, he didn’t tell them to come back!) It was also the first time in 150 years that a Pope had left Italy, the result in part of the Vatican’s sixty year “imprisonment.” To visit the Holy Land then and now required that the Holy Father visit the State of Israel, something dicey given Roman Catholicism’s penchant for replacement theology. Last but not least the Pope met with the Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras; a Pope and Patriarch hadn’t met since the two branches of Apostolic Christianity angrily parted company in 1054.
The centrepiece of the recording at least is the Pope’s Mass in Nazareth. Although Vatican II had been recently concluded, it wasn’t until 1970 that the Novus Ordo Missae was promulgated. The Mass was thus conducted both in Latin and in what is now called the “Extraordinary Form” but was then the ordinary one. That should warm the hearts of Trads who usually use this pontiff’s picture as a dart board, but this Mass was not elaborate. Then as now media types didn’t understand religion very well; the narrator proclaims the conclusion of the Mass only to have the Pope begin his recitation of the Creed. (I’ve been to Masses like that, but…)
Outside of the Mass, the Pope addresses the President of Israel, the crowd at Nazareth, and the Patriarch in French. At the time French was the language of diplomacy; our world has come a long way since then. He also invited the Patriarch to recite the Lord’s Prayer; good thing he didn’t use the Creed, with the still-ongoing “filioque” controversy, that would have blown things up again for another 910 years. It wasn’t until he returned to Rome that he addressed the crowd in his native Italian.
The world has changed a great deal in the nearly seventy years since this visit and recording, but the historic nature of the visit–and the way it was disseminated–are both worth remembering.
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Retreat Singers: A Folk Song of the Life of Christ
E&M EMLP-005 (1966)
This album comes from the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was done by the Episcopal Young Churchmen under the direction of the Rev. Edgar E. Shippey. As the name implies, the album’s inspiration came from their retreats in the Arkansas mountains, with musical arrangement assisted by James A. Pence, Jr.
Chronologically it comes between Gere and Williams’ Winds of God and the beginning of the epic God Unlimited albums under Tom Belt. That’s a nice place to put it too; it goes “beyond” some of the Episcopal formality of the first but doesn’t quite hit the folk “spark” of the early efforts of the second. It has some narration, which was de rigeur at the time (and would also appear in albums by Ian Mitchell and Sister Germaine) although some of them are readings set against the songs rather than explanatory material. It has some interesting selections. The song “Turn Around” is secular and had been featured on Kodak’s ads a few years before. “Were You There” was a staple for albums like this in part because it was one of the few spirituals Episcopalians were familiar with (it was in the 1940 Hymnal, #80). There are some other interesting songs and a couple of Hebrew ones as well.
It’s a nice album, well done, better technically and in muscianship than most of its Roman Catholic contemporaries, doubtless reflecting both a stronger musical training and better budget. The group went on to achieve some fame, performing at the National Cathedral in Washington after this album was produced. Things were starting to move very quickly in the world of Christian folk music, and this album was very much in the middle of that.
The songs and recitations (with performers):
- Introduction (The Rev. Edgar E. Shippey)
- Hana Ava Babanot (James A. Pence, Jr., and Craig Wells)
- Reading (Jennifer Brewer)
- Mary Had a One Son (Sylvia Hawley)
- Turn Around (The Retreat Singers)
- Reading (Jennifer Brewer)
- Reading (Paul Thornton)
- The Battle Hymn (The Retreat Singers)
- Readings (James A. Pence, Jr., and Paul Thornton)
- Hallowed be Thy Name (Beth Saunders)
- Jesus Loves Me (The Retreat Singers)
- Reading (Paul Thornton)
- Reading (Craig Wells)
- Look Ye Jerusalem (The Retreat Singers)
- Reading (Ida Vaughan)
- In Remembrance of Me (The Retreat Singers)
- Were You There (The Retreat Singers)
- Reading (James A. Pence, Jr.)
- O Lamb of God (The Retreat Singers)
- Reading (Paul Thornton)
- My Master (Sylvia Hawley)
- Song of the Resurrection (Sylvia Hawley)
- Reading (Richard Boles)
- Avodim Hoyinu (The Retreat Singers)
Produced by Earl Fox and John Hannon
Recorded at E&M Studios, Little Rock, Arkansas
Recording Engineer: John P. HannonFor more music click here
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Bad Things at Camp: #MeToo Comes for David Haas
The composer and musician for much of the “sort-of Old Folk Mass” finds himself in hot water:
Three women on Wednesday accused Catholic composer David Haas of sexual misconduct, the country’s leading Catholic newspaper reported.
In an article in The National Catholic Reporter, the women detailed nonconsensual sexual acts by Mr. Hass when they were under his tutelage in music ministry programs or camps.
Two described unwanted sexual advances at a camp in Minnesota, and the third said Mr. Haas forced himself on her in an attempted kiss at a camp in California.
I’m sure the Trads are toasting each other at whatever watering hole at which they congregate. (They should consider Mass there, in some places it’s easier to gather in a bar or casino than in church.) Although I’m a fan of the “Old Folk Mass” David Haas is something of a “Johnny Come Lately” to the genre (the Archivist informs us that his first album was in 1979.) So I don’t think I have any of his stuff in my collection.
Like I said, however, the Trads and #straightouttairondale types will be happy at this development.
But this brings up another thought: maybe with stuff like this and the Anglicans’ Iwerne fiasco, it’s time to reconsider this “camp” business in the hypersexualised age we live in.
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Anglicans, We Need Bible Studies — The North American Anglican
Anglicans are often proud of the central place of scripture in prayer book worship, especially the lectionaries, those scheduled scripture readings for the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and the Eucharist. Certainly, it is true that a widening diversity of calendars and lectionaries across the Anglican world are limiting claims about uniformity of…
via Anglicans, We Need Bible Studies — The North American Anglican
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There’s Hope Outside of the “Perfect Will of God”
One of those Evangelical concepts that hasn’t quite resonated with me is that of the “perfect will of God” for your life, that it is imperative to find that will and to live it. If you don’t, you’ll miss it big time. It’s not that God’s will is not perfect, it’s that the creation isn’t, and achieving perfection just doesn’t happen on this side of eternity.
Probably the strongest refutation the Scriptures have on the whole concept of the “perfect will of God” can be found when Israel, after years of judges raised up by the Lord, opted to have a king. God’s opinion of that decision–which has political implications as well–can be found in my post What Happens When You Want a King. It’s worth pointing out that we eventually got to the Davidic monarchy, then to Jesus Christ in the line of David, so in spite of the mistake of this desire God moved us towards perfection anyway.
Samuel reminded Israel of their folly later:
And now stand still, and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat-harvest to-day? I will call upon the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain; and know ye and see, that your wickedness is great which ye have wrought before the Lord, having asked for yourselves a king. And Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunders and rain in that day; and all the people feared greatly the Lord and Samuel.
And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God, and let us not die; for we have added to all our sins this iniquity, in asking for us a king. And Samuel said to the people, Fear not: ye have indeed wrought all this iniquity; only turn not from following the Lord, and serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn not aside after the gods that are nothing, who will do nothing, and will not deliver you, because they are nothing. For the Lord will not cast off his people for his great name’s sake, because the Lord graciously took you to himself for a people. And far be it from me to sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will serve the Lord, and shew you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth and with all your heart, for ye see what great things he has wrought with you. But if ye continue to do evil, then shall ye and your king be consumed. (1 Samuel 12:16-25 Brenton)
Samuel reminded Israel in a very visible way that wanting a king was a mistake. But he also exhorts Israel, in spite of their mistake, to follow the way that their God had set before them, which was more important than whether they had a king or not. Failure to do that would result in disaster.
In these days when everyone is looking for an “ideal” ruler, it’s worth remembering that there are more important things and people than our earthly rulers and government.
Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Positive Infinity 